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Alabaster

Do you have a favorite perfume? One that is so valuable that you’re very careful with it and you try to use as little as possible to make it last long? You wouldn’t dream of wasting it for no reason. You wouldn’t wear it to any party. You save it for the most special occasions, or when you’re looking to impress someone.

There was a woman who did that once. She saved her most precious perfume for the most important occasion. For the most important person.

Jesus.

“Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper. While he was eating dinner, a woman came up carrying a bottle of very expensive perfume. Opening the bottle, she poured it on his head. Some of the guests became furious among themselves. ‘That’s criminal! A sheer waste! This perfume could have been sold for well over a year’s wages and handed out to the poor.’ They swelled up in anger, nearly bursting with indignation over her. But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone. Why are you giving her a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives. Whenever you feel like it, you can do something for them. Not so with me. She did what she could when she could—she pre-anointed my body for burial. And you can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she just did is going to be talked about admiringly.’ ”

(Mark 14:3-9 MSG)

That woman wasted the most precious thing she had for Jesus. That alabaster jar costed over a year’s wages. She wasted the most precious thing she had on Jesus.